Models of primitive cellular life: polymerases and templates in liposomes

Nutrient transport, polymerization and expression of genetic information in cellular compartments are hallmarks of all life today, and must have appeared at some point during the origin and early evolution of life. Because the first cellular life lacked membrane transport systems based on highly evolved proteins, they presumably depended on simpler processes of nutrient uptake. Using a system consisting of an RNA polymerase and DNA template entrapped in submicrometre-sized lipid vesicles (liposomes), we found that the liposome membrane could be made sufficiently permeable to allow access of ionized substrate molecules as large as nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs) to the enzyme. The encapsulated polymerase transcribed the template-specific base sequences of the DNA to the RNA that was synthesized. These experiments demonstrate that units of genetic information can be associated with a functional catalyst in a single compartment, and that transcription of gene-sized DNA fragments can be achieved by relying solely on passive diffusion to supply NTPs substrates.